The fight to end child labor
“I am representing here – the sound of silence. The cry of innocence. And, the face of invisibility. I represent millions of those children who are left behind and that’s why I have kept an empty chair here as a reminder. I have come here only to share the voices and dreams of our children – because they are all our children. I have looked into their frightened and exhausted eyes. I have held their injured bodies and felt their broken spirits.” – Extracted from Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s 2014 Nobel Lecture.
On 10th December 2014, Indian Human Rights Activist Kailash Satyarthi, an advocate for children’s rights and eradicating child labor, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside education activist Malala Yousufzhai. On the 10th anniversary of this event, it is a moment to reflect on all the progress that has been made in the area of child labor prevention in India – a cause closest to Satyarthi’s heart – and to take measure of how far there is still to go.
38 years of Indian American stories depend on what you do next. Stand with us today.
Shedding his upper-caste identity
Born Kailash Sharma in 1954, he shed his upper-caste identity and changed his name to Satyarthi or ‘seeker of truth’. In 1980, Satyarthi founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement) (BBA), an organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of children from atrocities like bonded labor, trafficking, and other kinds of servitude.
To inform and educate children about Satyarthi’s life’s work for their peers, children’s author, Srividhya Venkat, wrote ‘Seeker of Truth: Kailash Satyarthi’s Fight to End Child Labor’, a picture book with illustrations by Danica da Silva Pereira.
Over 100,000 children freed
Over four decades, Satyarthi and his organization have been responsible for freeing over 100,000 children from various forms of exploitation. They go beyond rescue operations to provide stability to the children by providing psychological support, integrating them into the education system and thereby society.
Global action
Globally too, Satyarthi has been a voice for systemic change, bringing child rights to the fore-front of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 1998, he spearheaded the Global March Against Child Labour, an international movement that brought together various government, civic and non-profit organizations to push through stronger laws against child labor in various countries of the world. It also played a pivotal role in the adoption of the International Labour Organization’s Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.
Global campaign for Education
Satyarthi also became the Founding President of the Global Campaign for Education in 1999 to ensure that every child had access to education. Today, Satyarthi’s vision of a world order free from child labor is an inspiration for many advocates and groups, spurring them to action so that children can hope for a future to live with freedom and dignity.
100 million US
In the US, the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation is rallying together students and young adults to drive the 100 Million US campaign to support the cause of education and eradicating child labor.
In the author’s note to the book, Venkat writes of Satyarthi’s “selfless efforts to save children from exploitation and help them get their right to an education. Unfortunately,” she says, “child labor continues to exist today. It is estimated that 160 million children around the world were working in 2020. Of them, 56 percent were in the 5–11 age group. The pandemic reversed much of the progress made in the past two decades in reducing child labor. Food shortage, unemployed parents, and school closures were some factors that led to a rise in child employment. However, nonprofit organizations such as Kailash’s BBA continue to pursue their mission relentlessly.”